Traditional shaft sinking operations are carried out by drilling and blasting to excavate materials from a mine shaft. The excavated material is removed by a mucking system, by which the excavated material is picked up and deposited in kibbles (large cylindrical buckets) that are hoisted to the surface on cables extending downwardly from headgear incorporating a hoist at the top of mine shaft.
Shaft sinking and mine constructions methods using blasting and mucking processes are slow and discontinuous. In this context, ‘discontinuous’ refers to shaft construction taking place slowly, with each stage in the drill, blast and mucking cycle all being done in series with minimal processes being completed in parallel. For example, the time between mucking stages is lengthy since after completion of one mucking stage, mucking equipment is removed from the shaft bottom, drilling equipment is lowered to the shaft bottom to drill boreholes, charges are then set in the bore holes, all equipment is removed from the bottom of the mine shaft, charges are initiated, and then the next mucking stage commences.
More recently there have been proposals to increase the speed at which sinking can progress by using mechanical excavation technology similar to that used in the horizontal civil tunnelling industry. International patent publication number WO 2011/000037A1 discloses such a proposal for sinking a mine shaft in which rock excavated by a boring machine is transferred into large capacity conveyances in the form of skips which are raised and lowered by a hoisting system installed at the top of mine shaft. On completion of shaft sinking operations the hoisting system and skips may subsequently be operated to convey material excavated during production mining stage of the mine life.
In the equipment disclosed in WO 2011/000037A1, the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference, each loaded skip or other conveyance must travel down the mine shaft and through a work stage or “Galloway”. The requirements of the system that controls and/or guides movement of the respective conveyance change as the conveyance moves through different sections (e.g. moving through the Galloway versus moving from top of mine shaft to the Galloway) of a mine shaft. The present invention provides a system to meet one or more of the changes in system requirements.
The term “skip” refers inter alia to a conveyance used to bring mined material to the top of a mine shaft. Skips are manufactured in various sizes and designs for both vertical and incline shafts, and generally include bottom door dump type conveyances.
Skips are distinct from “buckets” insofar as:                a) skips are self-dumping;        b) the properties of skips make them suitable for use in production shafts and have never previous to this invention been used in construction/sinking of a shaft;        c) skips are, during normal operation, attached at all times to the hoist rope; and        d) skips do not have to be able to free stand on the bottom of a mine shaft (i.e. can be extremely long and slender).        
A “bucket” and “kibble” are typically cylindrical shaped conveyances, use to transport blasted rock from the shaft bottom, during shaft construction (sinking) operations.
When compared with skips, buckets:                a) require manual dumping        b) must be unloaded in a tip over fashion        c) are attached to the hoist rope via detachable hook to suspension chains (or bales) at the top of the bucket (minimum of 3 to maintain stability)        d) must be used in conjunction with a crosshead to provide guidance in the shaft barrel (above work stage)        e) are unguided (both in terms of rotation and swing) below shaft guide system or within work stage, and also below work stage        f) are regularly disconnected from the hoist rope (generally to load at shaft bottom) during the loading operation        g) must be round and have a height to diameter ratio that is stable and will stand unsupported on shaft bottom        h) must have a smooth outer surface so as to allow the bucket to work with bump guides to prevent swaying, and accordingly cannot have guide couplings attached to their outer surface.        
Unless context specifies otherwise, the term “guide” as used herein refers to a member along which a conveyance travels down a mine shaft, and that resists or prevents both rotation of the conveyance and lateral movements of the conveyance relative to the mine shaft. Such a “guide” provides no motive or drive force to cause movement of the conveyance.